We are in the process of selling our house. Everything is in place and contracts have all been signed except for the buyer who is purchasing our property. When we filled in our fixtures and fittings list we clearly stated that the washing machine and fridge freezer weren't being left. Our buyer has had the list since the end of January. Yesterday he signed all necessary paperwork except for the actual contract as he is saying that he thought the two items were being left with the house. We have said we will leave the washing machine at a minimum cost to him, but we need the fridge freezer. He has said that he now wants money off the price of the house to compensate! He is a cash buyer and already has £3K off the asking price because of this. I know he is pulling a fast one. Obviously we don't want to lose the house we are buying by delaying too much, but I don't want to be held to ransom over this either! I feel like telling him where to go rather than give him the option of getting one over on us. The EA has said that he will sort it all out and get to the bottom of this - I've told the EA that if they have told him that these two items are staying then it is them at fault and perhaps it should come out of their selling fees! However, EA is insistent they would never say this sort of thing. Has anybody been in this position before - at the end of the day I know its only a washing machine and a fridge, but I feel our buyer is being very crafty and has us over a barrel. We are due to exchange the back end of this week with the completion date set for a couple of weeks time. Many thanks.

not too outragous, i can see both points of view. but its the comments/replies that really get me

Kazbrett

He hasn't yet suggested a new price - not that we will allow it. Because he is a cash buyer and a first time buyer at that he thinks he is in control and calling the shots! We have other parties interested in the house who will pay the full asking price and I'm tempted to take their offers even though it will delay the move by a few more weeks. It disgusts me people do these underhand tactics - we have been honest and fair and quick throughout the whole process and then a few days from exchange, he does this. Why can't people just be a bit more upfront and honest. If we do decide to sell to somebody else, then he will lose the money he has paid out on the survey and solicitors costs etc, but like you say are we willing to lose out over the price of a fridge and w.machine. I have offered the washing machine for a price of £100 - its only 1 year old and in excellent working condition, but I want to take my fridge freezer with me!

they are prepared to end the sale over £100 - some people need to really REALLY think what they are doing

i hope i never get to be in any form of sale or purchase with cheeswright

cheeswright

hiwe had buyers like this - I suggest you loook very carfully at the terms of you contract - you will find that although you may for instance have agreed to leave curtains - which ones arent specified...we for instance happened to have an old bag in the loft - with added mould spots

light fittings could infact be any old tat - the specifice ones arnt stated

door keys - other than the front door arnt in the contract...including windows and radiator keyslook around - check whats not in the contract - it dosnt have to have an intrinsic value of £400 - it just has to cost that to replacemanuals - instructions etc are a pigoh and get your power and gas cut off - not tranferred as you leave - there is no legal obligation to tranfer

and you can quite legally point this out to him

and if that dosnt work leave with a smile remembering.....

carpet dosnt need to be those beautifully clean and fitted ones you have...they can be the filthy ones left after your movers have dragged every potted plant from your back garden through to the front....in muddy shoes on a rainy day....

he dosnt hold all the cards he just thinks he does...

ps - plumming fittings are part of the contents and cant be removed - but every single joint can be loosened..

cheeswright

oh and of course you can say you will tell of of his new neighbours how he has behaved if he wont sign - so perhapse he should really consider how much he's going to enjoy living there.....

sonastin

On the theme of really petty revenge...Unplug the items before you leave. Cut the plug off and shorten the wire so that it just doesn't quite reach the nearest plug socket. Re-wire the plug.

Alternatively, find a similar item for sale on e-bay. Forward a link to that item to the estate agent and ask them to pass it on. Tell him that you are taking YOUR fridge/washing machine and he can find his own with little effort. If he doesn't play ball, buy the stuff off e-bay for him.

LittleMissAspie

I'm sure that when buying a house the contract can't specify WHICH fridge-freezer is left, just A fridge-freezer. Get one off freecycle (the scummier the better) and leave it behind for him. Same with the washing machine. There'll be absolutely nothing he can do about it.

kazbrett

That's a good point re the changing of the items - may consider it. EA has disappeared off the face of the earth and now solicitor is away from office until Friday. Will just sit tight and wait. Not prepared to lose house we are buying for the sake of these two items - just incenses me that people can be right sh*ts during the last week or so of the house process! We've been upfront and honest all the way through to both our seller and buyer and you do expect a level of courtesy back - however it just goes to show there are some nasty people around!

phoebe1989seb

We had every intention of doing the same thing as our buyers refused the EA's suggestion of each party (EA, buyer and ourselves) bearing one third of the cost of a new Rangemaster for us (or at least a good second hand model) but our buyers refused to play ball......admittedly it wasn't entirel their fault, but a misunderstanding, but it had originally been their suggestion to do this.

We had v.expensive solid pewter handles on our kitchen units which we almost replaced with bog standard Been & Queued ones as well as a cheapo butler sink tap which we were going to swap for our perrin & rowe one, but in the end time got the better of us and we merely left the house not quite as well hoovered as we would have liked......

Also there was a crack in the glass conservatory roof which their surveyor hadn't noticed and we intended to have fixed before completion, but in the end we left it.......not long after moving day DH had to return to the area for something and bumped into our buyers who said a few days after moving in a torrential downpour caused the conservatory roof to leak buckets.....whoops

i can beleive some of these people. asi know what peopel are like, but i just cant beleive what i have read.

I think to say "I want £3k off because..." is fair enough in a sense, they can take it or leave it, but to contrive a reason around misunderstanding the contract and to say a washing machine and fridge freezer are worth £3k is a bit off. I can understand why the vendor isn't pleased.

I won't be trying to alter agreed terms when I buy because the petty revenge tactics are all quite plausible and are all more hassle than a last minute discount is worth in my view.

I remember my parents buying a house in 94, the seller wanted them to come and cut the grass after the offer had been made, then wanted £500 for a dishwasher and some architectural stuff in the garden before the sale was agreed, then the seller wanted £2 per brass door handle or they where to take them with, which could of been 40 or 80 pounds(never found out if they ment per door or each side). Needless to say my parents didn't pay for them but moved in shortly afterwards to find the worse consequence that happened was they took all the light bulbs.

Sounds like an interesting SOAB.
My feeling is you need to trust your buyer.
When trust goes out the window you can play it a few ways.

The extra £100.00 is more of a principle thing I think.
We had a guy some 10 years back that did everything in the book to knock the price of the house down (but only after he got us to take it off the market).
As the weeks progressed he started asking to come in to measure up and every time he would knock a few hundred off the price.
When we got fed up with him, we put the house back on the market but decided not to tell him.
It wasn't a money thing at that stage, we just decided we didn't like him and we were going to make his life difficult.

The views expressed in my posts are my own based upon what I read on other information supplied by other HPC members.
These should not be used a a definitive answer to any posts I attempt to answer.

O.P. - i presume you are joking. I have been in the selling situation you describe, what you have to ask yourself is can I get another buyer easily? For many of my homowning years, the answer would be absolutely yes, in a moment. Now the situation is very very diferent. If you want to hold onto your buyer, you should be prepared to do everything you can to sweeten the deal, and then keep to your word. After all, he has many many other houses to choose from, probably better than yours. and he knows it. If he does not get what he wants from you, you will lose him. Some of the ploys talked here about are just plain nasty. Others will land you in expensive trouble.

The boot is firmly on your buyers foot.

I presume that you are selling to rent and sit out the further fall in house prices?

OP was commenting on a thread on MSE I think - not his actual circumstances.

Doccyboy, you are correct, for me to sell a property, first i have to buy one.

i am in no way connected to the sale or purchase of said house, or any party. it was a thread i saw on MSE that got my attention and thought the regular users of HPC would be interested on seeing the "highlights"

I think it was mostly understood that the OP was a post from another thread on another website.Guess I didn't help matters when I said "you need to trust your buyer.", I should have said One needs to trust ones buyer.Either way, I maintain that the seller is in as good a position as the buyer.I would not normally say that, but as none of us know the exact circumstances no-one can argue the point can they

O.P. - i presume you are joking. I have been in the selling situation you describe, what you have to ask yourself is can I get another buyer easily? For many of my homowning years, the answer would be absolutely yes, in a moment. Now the situation is very very diferent. If you want to hold onto your buyer, you should be prepared to do everything you can to sweeten the deal, and then keep to your word. After all, he has many many other houses to choose from, probably better than yours. and he knows it. If he does not get what he wants from you, you will lose him. Some of the ploys talked here about are just plain nasty. Others will land you in expensive trouble.The boot is firmly on your buyers foot.I presume that you are selling to rent and sit out the further fall in house prices?

You have no facts to work with notnow. I also have bought and sold my fair share of properties over the years. I've traded up, down, STR'd and god knows what else.There is no set procedure imo whether buying or selling other than to make sure that all parties are happy with the deal. Time wasters and penny pinchers are always bad news though.

The views expressed in my posts are my own based upon what I read on other information supplied by other HPC members.
These should not be used a a definitive answer to any posts I attempt to answer.

O.P. - i presume you are joking. I have been in the selling situation you describe, what you have to ask yourself is can I get another buyer easily? For many of my homowning years, the answer would be absolutely yes, in a moment. Now the situation is very very diferent. If you want to hold onto your buyer, you should be prepared to do everything you can to sweeten the deal, and then keep to your word. After all, he has many many other houses to choose from, probably better than yours. and he knows it. If he does not get what he wants from you, you will lose him. Some of the ploys talked here about are just plain nasty. Others will land you in expensive trouble.

The boot is firmly on your buyers foot.

I presume that you are selling to rent and sit out the further fall in house prices?

yep, agreed.

All through 2008 we were waiting for a seller to sort his sh1t out on a house that we had made an offer on. Was on for £300k and he accepted an offer of £280k in the spring.

We waited and waited and had excuse after excuse, things changed from defo being in by summer to defo being in by xmas amongst various other dates. After str'ing so that we didnt lose our buyers we lived in a nicer village for a couple of months so by early december when it was clear that we wouldnt be in by xmas and then we were told that the sellers were going on a months cruise in jan the final straw snapped. We liked the village we were in and we didnt like that dik.

The seller rang me and straight off dropped the price from £280k to £250k (the price I was thinking of haggling over before completing) but it was too late, my mind was made up and he could go fuk himself.

Turns out he did me a massive favour, I still think he was holding out for someone else to complete a sale and pay more than we had offered but I was satisfied that I screwed up his christmas and caused him some well deserved panic.

Turns out he did me a massive favour, I still think he was holding out for someone else to complete a sale and pay more than we had offered but I was satisfied that I screwed up his christmas and caused him some well deserved panic.

Great story. Has he sold since? Can you check rightmove and let us know, how much he got etc?

Great story. Has he sold since? Can you check rightmove and let us know, how much he got etc?

yeah, he managed to sell mid march '09 for a touch under the £250k unfortunately. It was a place that wasnt going to have any trouble selling tbh but I dont know if he managed to do it in time to hold his own purchase.

On the theme of really petty revenge...Unplug the items before you leave. Cut the plug off and shorten the wire so that it just doesn't quite reach the nearest plug socket. Re-wire the plug.

Um, isn't there then the potential for someone to be electrocuted? Murder charge?

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